Chris Anderson explains his theory of free-conomics

Responding to recent criticisms that a large part of his new book was cribbed from Wikipedia, author Chris Anderson admitted the mistake was "just plain old sloppiness".

However, Anderson also thinks that the issue raised "questions about whether one should cite Wikipedia" and was adamant that he was "one of those who think you should".

"The level of scholarship and analysis on Wikipedia is improving by the day, and we neglect it at our peril," argued the author.

Anderson also considers Google to be 'the poster child of free', largely responsible for the sea-change in consumer's attitudes to paying for digital entertainment and information (or not paying for, as is more often the case).